Friday Pt 13

Nicole gives a little bow then claps. "Well done, "Masked Man", I must say that while I can't confirm it I'm rather certain of your identity as well. The outfit, fighting style, patterns of behavior, even this conversation were all quite predictable really." Nicole stops clapping and instead lifts her hand and blasts Walt point blank range.

He tries to dodge but the blast strikes his left shoulder knocking him back and down. The revolver goes flying. Walt grimaced in agony and starts scuttling and crawling backwards.

"You see?" Said Watts/Nicole following along step by step. "Greater than Pietro's design! A fully weaponized doll! Not just a doll carrying weapons."

Walt crawls away out into the street. He draws the bowie knife.

Watts/Nicole laughed at that as the Floating Array deployed following along, powering up. "Is that the best you can do? An oversized antiquated blade? Disappointing."

Walt stopped and smirked. "Disappointing? Actually, I believe that is my line. Now."

The sound of multiple high-caliber rifle fire and rounds hitting the Floating Arrays housing is loud as the blades drop limply to the ground. Almost as loud as the roar of the motor as Blake smashes the robot with Silver and Yang let's out a "Yee Haw!"

Walt smiled as Zwei trotted over with his hat and gun. He took them and patted him on the head. "Thanks partner! And good work all teams. That went well. Delta, Secure the target and check for traps. Charlie, overwatch. Alpha, Bravo. Sitrep."

"Alpha Team. No hostiles or civilians and no casualties. Area secure."

"Bravo Team. No hostiles or civilians and no casualties. Area secure."

Several transports pull up and 3S members begin surrounding "Nicole". "Delta team. Target disabled but bomb detected."

Walt nodded and walked over towards Silver. "Good work. In that case record what you can and leave it. We're departing immediately." He looked at Blake. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I can't believe I hit her though."

Walt nodded and patted her hand. "You did fine. She wasn't like Penny. No aura and no "soul". Just a doll. A bad copy."

She let's out a breath. "Thanks, Walt."

Walt shook his head. "No, thank you. You ladies were excellent. Right in position where you needed to be and you disabled the tracker. Good work!"

"Aww yeah," Yang said. "Nailed it!" Blake giggled and Walt chuckled as he climbed into the back with Zwei. "Alright, we're pulling out. Let's go home."

Watts actually smiled at the screen. "Touché... and you avoided the bomb. This round goes to you, Stark."

"You don't sound all that upset," Roman said over the phone.

Watts nodded. "Because I'm not. Honestly I didn't expect much better. Excellent test for the prototype unit though. As it stands now the Nicole unit is combat ready. Once the Proffesor retrieves it, I'll refine the design further. Then production can begin."

"Still..." Roman says.

Watts pours himself a cup of coffee. "Don't be disappointed, Roman. Our operations are secure. We gained capital and data and tested out a few of our theories. You wanted my help in this and this is how the scientific process works." He sipped his coffee. "I know it's disappointing and you want what's yours. I can appreciate that. But-"

"Patience is key," Roman said. "You're right. We've got a whole operation to consider. We have to be smart about this. Don't worry. Unlike Cinder I can bide my time. I'm going to regather our forces and get back to taking care of business." The call ends.

Watts grinned. "Yes... back to work." He starts working on his schematics.

"I'm fine, Curie. See? Good as new. I need to get back to work."

She frowned. "You're many things but you aren't a machine, Walter. If you develop any pain or stiffness please tell me immediately!"

Walt smiled at her. "I will. I promise and thank you for your concern and your assistance."

She smiled. "It is my pleasure."

T3-M4 beeps and whistles as he hands Walt the next tool for working on Yang's arm.

Walt chuckled and pats the droids head. "Thank you. I couldn't do it without you as well, my friend."

"Wow!"

Blake chuckled at Yang's reaction. "It really is something else, isn't it?"

Yang nodded where she sat on the couch with Zwei in her lap by the fireplace. "This place is huge!"

"Wait til you see the kitchen!" Nora told her and they all laughed.

All the ladies from Remnant had joined them to welcome her home even those who'd been previously sleeping. It had turned into a impromptu pajama party of sorts. Yang had been overjoyed to see so many of her friends. Especially Penny and Pyrrha alive and well.

There was one exception. She kept glancing over at where Neopolitan sat. It just felt weird to see them all chummy together with her. But other than sticking her tongue out her once quickly she'd actually been pleasant. It didn't hurt that she seemed to actually be very good friends with both Penny and Pyrrha either. Even Nora seemed to be trying to get along though it was apparently a new development.

"Tea?" Asked Kali offering her a cup.

Yang smiled as she accepted. "Oh, thank you Mrs B- I mean, Kali."

Kali smiled back nodding. "You're very welcome, Yang. I'm glad we can finally meet! Have you picked out a room to sleep in tonight? If not you can stay in the bunkhouse... or with Blake and I at the cabin!" She winked.

Blake coughed as her tea went down the wrong way. "Mom?!"

Kali smiled. "Oh? I assumed you'd want to spend time with your good friend and teammate... now that your dates over, that is."

Blake coughed even more as Yang jerked her head up in interest. "What?"

Kali puts her finger to her cheek and looks up like she's thinking but Pyrrha dives right in. "Oh, yes! How was your date with Walt, Blake?"

Yang looks surprised. "So you two are dating?"

Blake pauses but then nodded. "It's a long story but Walt's a very good friend and I treated him poorly in the beginning I'm ashamed to say. But he's been nothing but kind, caring and supportive and we're great friends now so... I wanted to try dating... once I had worked things out with my mother and the others."

"Why-" Yang started.

"Hold it!" Nora said. "After my confusion the otherday I decided to get prepared and I got just thing!" She makes a little fanfare as she draws out a hand drawn "chart" of the various relationships and acts very proud of herself. Penny and Neo clap. They're the only ones though. The rest are stunned into silence except for Glynda who sighed. "Years of barely filled in and "sticky" homework assignments during your school days but you put time and effort into researching this all night?"

Nora nodded. "Uh, yeah... cause this is actually interesting!"

Pyrrha laughed nervously as Glynda's eyebrow twitched. "Well better late than never to learn to be passionate about studying I suppose... and you liked Proffesor Goodwitch's class right, Nora?"

"Ooooh," Nora said smacking her fist into her palm. "Yeah, not really... But I liked her and Willow's class today! Those were some impressive moves teach! I didn't know you could- mhmm mmhmm mmmm!"

Yang barely notices the chaos as the others either try to shut Nora up or burst out laughing... except for Glynda who looks like she's about to commit telekinetic ****. Yang stares at the relationship chart. Apparently so many of her friends and their mothers that are present here are also in a relationship with Walt. "I thought you said it was safe here! He's sleeping with all of you?!"

Nora calls a time out. "Whoa. I know what you're thinking! I thought the same thing too but there's more. That's only the first chart!"

She hops up and pulls out two more charts. "Ahem! These represent all the others currently living here. As you can see there's quite a few in the "friend zone" and these here like Blake and others are slowly working their way free of this "zone" and pushing on into the relationship area. I have a theory that as they congregate on the relationship/friend zone border the activity and pressure of this buildup pushes candidates into propelling themselves free of the friend zone itself and into a relationship orbit. Much like we had planned to do with Amity!"

Nora pauses and then looks at the small chart next to that one at the very end with four frowny faces. Two blue ones, one with pointy ears and another with glasses. "Oh yeah, and these are the outliers over here." She shrugged. "Not very many at all infact. In someway even more interesting in that they don't fit the standard pattern at all!" Nora looks around at the others. "So. What do you think?"

"It's oddly very... you Nora," Pyrrha said.

[Crayons] Neo texted.

"At least you're finally showing an interest in studying something!" Glynda says irritated.

Nora sighed and slapped her diagram. "Not the point! What do you think about the facts that all these point towards a tendency of growing closer to Walt and of their own volition mostly? It seems to suggest he's an attractive prospect for most here and they pursue him more than the other way around."

There's a lot of stunned silence as she points out that fact. Sure enough Nora's dubious chart does show that. Penny raised her hand and Nora points at her. "Yes Penny?"

Penny nods. "I assume the one with the hammer is you?"

Nora smiles. "Good eye. That's correct!"

Penny nods. "I see you crossed it out and redrew it on the otherside of the "friend zone" closer towards Walt."

Everybody looks at that now that Penny mentioned it. Nora hesitates then quickly gathers and refolds her diagrams up putting them away. "That? That's nothing. First one wasn't cute enough!! Presentation is over! Dismissed! I'm going to put these away..."

"But I have more questions!" Penny stated.

"Me too!" Pyrrha said.

[Ditto!] Neo texted.

Blake grinned. "You two were pretty chummy earlier... when you got home did you decide to adjust your chart-"

Nora panics and sees no escape except... she "accidentally" trips saying, "Oh no!" And tosses her charts into the fireplace. "My research!" She grabs the fire poker and incinerated the papers throughly. "All the evid- I mean research is completely gone now!"

"You could just redo it," Willow suggested giggling.

"It only took you one night," Sienna laughed.

Nora laughed nervously. "I'll have to think about it. Infact all this heavy thinking has made me sleepy! Goodnight!" She scurried away upstairs and to bed. The others laughed.

(("Yang your arm is ready if you'd like to come down to the lab."))

"How's that?"

Yang flexed the fingers again and ran them through a range of motions again. "Yeah. I think that's done it."

Walt smiled at her. "Excellent! Honestly I'd love the opportunity to try making you some spares and alternates for your use, if you'd be OK with that?"

Yang blinks. "You would?"

Walt nods. "Sure. I mean there's bound to be times that having a spare would be handy like tonight. I'd also like to try to find out more about you personally and what you'd want in a prosthesis. I get that this one's got weapon functionality but there's opportunities for so much more. Like say flight?"

Yang raises an eyebrow. "An arm that allows flight?"

Walt shook his head. "Sorry. That was unclear. I meant something like this. Friday could you send one of the gauntlets, please?"

((" Certainly, Boss."))

A metal gauntlet flies through the air and attaches itself to his arm. "See I have several sensors that literally connect me to Friday. Utilizing those I can have things that have a flight capability to come to me. I was thinking if you had a replacement backup with a similar capability then even if something happened to your primary you could call for your secondary. We could do something similar with your primary too. Perhaps a homing or search function- Yang? Are you alright? Sorry. You've had a long day and I'm babbling on and-"

Yang holds up her hand. "No. I'm fine. It's just a lot to think about... and it's nice to know you care enough about your property to think about their well-being."

Walt nodded and pursed his lips and sat down. "Sorry. That must be bothering you a bit. You want to talk about it?"

Yang pauses. "Is that... ok?"

Walt laughed. "Yang that's perfectly fine. If you do or don't? If you accept me or not? Whether we're friends or family going forward or not? All those are decisions I leave up to you. I am your owner now. That's the truth. But the way I see it that makes me responsible for you. To try to give you a good home and a good life. Take care of your health, needs and wants. To give you opportunities to grow and become who you want to be. To support you in that." He smiles. "I'd like it if we can at least be friends but I won't insist on it. But I'll always try to be a friend to you anyway."

Yang nodded. "That's what Blake and the others were saying earlier. Even Nora." She looked at him. "What are your intentions with Blake?"

Walt smiled. "That's easy. I only want her to be happy. Just like you, Yang."

"What?" Yang said. "I meant romantically."

Walt winked. "I know. Same answer."

Yang blushed. "I-uhh... don't know-"

Walt took her hand. "Yang, may I give you advice? As a friend?"

Yang is surprised as not only is he being kind but so is touch. "Ok."

Walt smiled. "Life is... unpredictable. Sometimes the people we love, that we think will always be there, aren't there and then they're gone. Forever. I'm not saying you need to act on your feelings in anyway... but don't take them lightly either. Never discount the happiness and joy of being together with a friend or a loved one."

Yang looks at him. "You... know something about that, huh?"

Walt nodded. "I do. After my wife died... my life was so empty." He chuckled. "But even though I carried on. Had fun adventures and helped people." Yang chuckled at her own dream. "None of it brought me joy... until Penny opened up my heart. Now all of you bring me joy. As friends, family and yes some as more. But I don't take any of that lightly."

Yang thought about her father Tai. A man who had been unfortunate in his love life but had been blessed with a family. Here was a man who hadn't been as blessed and only discovering these things later in his life... but freely giving her the same kind of support and advice. She squeezed his hand. "Thanks Walt. I hope we can be friends too."

Walt squeezed her hand back smiling. "You're very welcome and thank you, Yang. I'd like that too."

She smiled. "So... about Blake?"

Walt chuckled and nodded. "I just want her to be happy. Whatever she decides and wants and makes her happy is OK by me." He squeezed her hand. "No matter who that's with."

Yang blushed. "Not going to let that go are you?"

Walt shrugged. "I would have... if you hadn't been the one to bring it up."

Yang groaned. "Really? That's what gave me away?"

Walt shook his head chuckling. "Oh no! I said I wouldn't have brought up if you hadn't. Everything gives you away. Your jokes, your awkward flirty moments, the way you look at-"

"Ok! Ok! Ok! That's enough!" Yang is bright red.

Walt grins but relented. "I just want you two to be happy. Honestly. But ultimately I leave that decision up to Blake."

Yang nodded. "You're a pretty good guy, Walt." She sighs. "And I just realized that despite everything tonight I still haven't thanked you properly yet. So... thank you... for everything." She hesitates and Walt watches her. He slowly holds his arms out wide. "You're very welcome Yang."

She swallowed and nodded but slowly stepped into the hug. He puts his arms around her gently like a friend. "Welcome home."

Yang relaxed. He's not a creep. He's a friend who put his life on the line for her when he barely knew her. He's treated her friends well and they're genuinely happy... but most of all. She's safe here. No gangs and cliques, scumbag gaurds, tiny cells, fighting and fear and pain and... it's behind her now... and she owes that to him. She hugs him back.

Walt holds her, the second crying young lady of the day, quietly as he pulls out the same silk wild rag as before with Nora. He shakes his head and hands it to her. "Sorry, Nora used it earlier. It's big though and it can hold a lot of tears."

Yang just snorts. He's apologizing for something like that? Ridiculous. She should be... "I'm sor-"

Walt shakes his head and makes a shushing sound. There's no need for that. Yang nods and cries and he holds her until she's done.

They don't talk about it. She's not ready for that just yet. But she does feel better.

Walt smiles. "So I got a lot of work tonight... but after that a bunch of us are going to just hang out. Picnic, fish, maybe a few drinks down by the river. You can join us if you want. It'll be a good opportunity to relax before... the... shit!"

Yang gives him a funny look. "Before the what?"

Walt sighed and facepalmed. "Before my friends wedding. On Sunday. I just got the newest ladies something to wear today but now you need something..."

Yang grins and punches Walts shoulder. "Looks like you've got another problem to "a dress"! Hey yo!"

Walt groaned.

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Raven Manami Aiba also with Tsuyu Asui Haruhime Sanjouno The Baroness Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM and KL-E-O

Will Return In

Saturday

Coming Soon]